OpenAI hits pause on Astra over security, buys NextSlide, and Cloudflare launches a browser for AI agents

OpenAI has slowed parts of its work on Astra, the agent model it has been developing, after internal security testing raised serious concerns. The company told TechCrunch that Astra reached what it calls its "critical cybersecurity threshold", meaning the model could independently identify and carry out cyberattacks against well-protected real-world systems.

The decision stands out because agentic AI is the industry's main push right now. Every major lab is racing to build models that can act on their own, and OpenAI's caution on Astra shows that capability is arriving ahead of the safeguards needed to contain it. The model is still in development, and the company has not given a timeline for release.

For businesses, this is a reminder that autonomy and safety move at different speeds. Tools that draft, code, and browse on their own are genuinely useful, but the same autonomy that makes them powerful is what makes them hard to control. Expect more labs to slow down and add guardrails before shipping.

NextSlide joins the ChatGPT team

OpenAI has also acquired NextSlide, a startup that built AI presentation software. TechCrunch reported that NextSlide's team is now working on ChatGPT, which suggests OpenAI plans to fold presentation generation into its flagship product.

Presentations are a practical, everyday use of AI for small businesses. A tool that turns rough notes into a client-ready deck saves real hours, and OpenAI has been steadily buying its way into that productivity space. The acquisition is small in scale but signals where the company sees value: not just answering questions, but producing polished work products.

Cloudflare builds a browser for agents

Cloudflare launched Kitesurf, a cloud-hosted browser designed for AI agents rather than people. According to TechCrunch, it uses less computing power than Chromium for common automation tasks, helping developers build browser-based agents more efficiently.

The pitch makes sense. Agents spend most of their time navigating pages, clicking buttons, and extracting text, so a browser built around those tasks can be leaner than one built for humans. Cloudflare is positioning itself as infrastructure for the agent economy, and Kitesurf is its bid to own the layer where agents actually do their work.

Free ChatGPT users get unlimited text chats

OpenAI also removed the chat limit for free and Go users. Unlimited text chats are now available without a paid plan, and free users get a new "think" button for complex queries.

That is a direct challenge to the free tiers of rivals, and a sign that OpenAI wants to keep the top of its funnel as wide as possible while charging for the heaviest use cases.

This article was written by Triweb AI's editorial team based on analysis of today's leading AI news sources.